Quantitative assessment of bacterial contamination of open wounds by a slide technique

The use of biopsy material for a smear preparation to determine the presence of bacteria in wounds is described. 97.4% of all smears observed correlated with their respective bacteriological counts. Of 72 slides corresponding to those plates having a count greater than 105,66 (91.7%) showed bacteria. No false positives were demonstrated, but 6 of 72 smears were falsely negative where counts were just borderline at 106, giving an 8.3% false negative result. These results are considered to be significant (P less than 0·01). With the aid of this technique the use of culture material can be reduced and successful wound closure can be achieved.